The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-08-19


with lurid light How they glowed and
shone, TO be sure, after their long years of
the case had scarcely been opened
for ycars-while their tremuous glance, now
dull now intense, according as the light
played upon them, appeared TO wander round
and round the room, as though In search Of
somebody or something.
II was an awful sight that that ray Of sun
light showed, as it played upon the trembling
crystal orbs, the scornful deathly features,
and the matchless hair that streamed on
either side. Together with the sudden break
in the silence caused by the crashing fall Of
the gauntlet, it proved, as it had done many
years before, altogether too much for the
@What Is thatp asked Ernest, with start,
ms the gauntlet fell.
Dorothy glanced up and gave little cry OF
horror "Oh, that dreadful headl--it Is look
ing at us.n
They all rose to their feet, and Dorothy,
seizing Ernest by one hand, and covering her
eyes with the other, retreated, slowly followed
by the others, toward the swing door. Soon
they had reached the door, were through it,
down the passage, and out in the peaceful
stiffness Of the evening. Then Jeremy spoke,
and his language was more forcible than
polite.
"Nell, L am DlOWeul ue Sttui NipinB bho
cold perspiration from his forehead.
"O Reginald | do wish you would get
that horrible thing out of the house; there
has been nothing but misfortune ever since it
has been here. l cannot bear it, cannot
bear itl' said Dolly, Historically.
"Nonsense, you supersttious childp an
swered Mr.. Cardus, who was now recovering
from his start. "The gauntlet knocked the
door open, that was all. 1t is nothing but
mummied head; but, IL you don't like it, /
will send it to the British museum to-mor-
row"
"Oh, please do, Reginald" answered
Dorothy, who appeared quite unhinged.
So hurried had been the retreat from the
sitting room that everybody had forgotten
"Hard Riding" Atterleigh sitting in the dark
in the ingenook. But the hustle in the room
had attracted him, and already, before they
had left, he had projected his large head
covered with the tangled gray locks and be-
gun TO stare about. Presently his eyes fell
upon the crystal orbs, and then, to him, the
orbs appeared to cease their wanderings and
rest upon his eyes. For awhile the two heads
stared at each other thus-the golden head
without body in the box, and the gray head
that, thrust out as it was from the ingle wall,
seemed to have no body either. They stared
and stared till at last the golden head got the
mastery of the gray head, and the old man
crept from his corner crept down the room
till he was almost beneath the baleful eyes,
and nodded, nodded, nodded at them.
And they too seemed to nod nod, nod at
him. Then he retreated backward as slowly
as he had come, nodding all the while, till he
came to where the broken assegai lay upon
the table, and taking it, thrust it up his
sleeve. As he did SO, the ray of light faded
and the fiery eyes went out. 1t was as
though the thick white lids and long eye
lashes had dropped over them.
None of the other four returned to the SIT
ting room that night.
When he had recovered from his fright
Jeremy went into his little room, the same in
which he used to stuff birds as boy, and
busted himself with his farm accounts. Mr..
Cardus, Dorothy and Ernest walked about
together in the balmy moonlight, for very
shortly after the twilight had departed the
great harvest moon came up and flooded tho
world with light. Mr.. Cardus was in a talk
ative, excited mood that night. He talked
about his affairs, which he had now finally
wound up, and about Mary Atterleigh, mem
tioning little tricks of manner and voice
| which were reproduced in Dorothy. He
talked, too, about Ernests and Dorothy s
marriage, and said 1t was a comfort to him.
Finally, about 10 o'clock, he said that he was
| tired and was going to bed
| "God bless you, my dear; sleep we'll Good
| nightn he said. ave will settle about that
| new orchid house tomorrow. Good night,
| good night"
| Shortly afterward Dorothy and Ernest also
went to bed, reaching their room by a back
entrance, for they neither Of them felt inclined
to come under the fire of the crystal eyes
again, and soon they were asleep in each
| others arms.
The minutes stole on one by one through
the silence of the dead night, bearing theii
records with them to the archives of the past
Eleven o'clock came and fed away; midnight
came too, and swept on batlike wings acros.
the world. Everywhere-on land, sky and
sea--there was silence, nothing but silence
sleeping in the moonlight.
Hark! o, heavens what was that9
One fearful, heart rending yell of agony
ringing all through the ancient house, rattine
the easements, shaking the armor against the
paneled walls, pulsing and throbbing in hor
rible notes out into the night, echoing anC
| dying far away over the seal
And then silence again, silence sleeping il
the moonlight
They sprung from their beds, did every
| living SOUL Dtlleulu lIlhl EOOll, ulu TuSlled III
| their night gear, men and women together
into the sitting room. The crystal eye
seemed to be awake again, for the moon wa
up and played upon them, causing them nov
and then to flash out in gleams OF opalescen
light
Somebody lit candle, somebody misses
Mr.. Cardus; surely he could never have slep
through it Yes, he had slept through il
They rushed and tumbled, a confused mass c
white, into the room where he lay. He wa
there, sure enoug', and he slept very sount
with a red cash in his throat, from which til
blood fell in heavy drops down, down to u
ground.
They stood aghast, and, as they stood, froi
the courtyard outside there came sound {
galloping hoofs. They knew the sound of Il
galloping-it was that of Ernest's great blac
stallion.
A mile or more away out on the marshe
, | just before you come to the well know
quicksands, which have, tradition says, swa
lowed so many unfortunates, and whiC
shudder palpably at times and are unpleasa
to look on, stands lock house. inhabited
, one solitary man who has charge of the sluic
On this very night it is necessary for him
} open his suice gates at particular momer
and now he stands awaiting that propitio
! time. He is an ancient mariner; his han
are in his pockets, his pipe in his mouth,
eyes are fixed upon the sea. We have II
, him before. Suddenly he hears the sound
, powerful horse galloping furiously.
! turns, and his hair begins to rise upon
4 head, for this is what he sees in the brig
moonlight:
Fast, fast toward him thunders a gre
4 coal black horse, snorting with mingled ia
, and terror, and on its bare back there 81
, with n grip of iron. a man--an old man,
, his gray locks stream out behind him, W
a waves above his head the fragment of
a spear,
4 On they come. Before them is W
I sluice; if they are mortal they will turn
\ plunge into it, No, the great black no
gathers himself and springs into the air
4 By Heaven, he has cleared It'll No no
: ever took that leap before, or will again.
Ia at whirlwind speed toward the shudder
n quicksand 200 yards away
A Splashi horse and man are in it, max
N the moist mass shake and tremble for twel
n yards round. The bright moonlight show
,a ALL The horse shrieks in fear and agony
m only horse can; the man on its back wa
"A | the spear.
- The horse vanishes, the man vanishes,
a spear glitters an instant longer in the mo
light, and then vanishes, too. They have
A. vanished forever.
They have all vanished, and again the
-, feet silence sleeps in the moonlight.
Rms ma aaN ha ami anA al